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Olympus Announces IPIX Upgrade Kit for Consumer Digital Cameras

Las Vegas, NV—Olympus America Inc., Digital & Imaging Systems Group, the leading consumer digital camera manufacturer, announced today at Comdex the IPIX Upgrade Kit. Designed for the D340R and D450 ZOOM Olympus digital cameras, the kit includes a fish-eye lens optimized for filmless digital photography and IPIX Wizard 2.2 software to create and view 360° by 360° images on Windows or Macintosh PCs. IPIX images are fully navigable with a mouse, allowing viewers to pan up, down and all the way around to see an entire setting. Wide-ranging applications for IPIX images include real estate, interior design, industrial design, architecture, and travel, vacations, birthday parties and weddings where a snapshot only captures part of the picture.

"With the IPIX digital camera kits featuring the D340R and D450 ZOOM Olympus digital cameras, users of all levels, from photo hobbyists to consumers can create high resolution IPIX images in seconds," said John Knaur, Olympus America. "IPIX has established the standard for easy to use interactive imaging for the Internet and Olympus is excited to introduce IPIX to our consumer, professional and real estate customer base."

The Olympus Fish-Eye lens is a high-performance lens with multiple coating to optimize image quality. The lens also works with the earlier Olympus D-340L and D-400 ZOOM, D-320L and D-220L digital cameras . The fish-eye lens captures images of more than 180º in all directions. Two images (in front of and behind the photographer) are merged horizontally and vertically with the IPIX Wizard 2.2 software to create a complete 360º spherical image, allowing anyone to look up and down and in every direction within the IPIX image. To prevent any visual irregularities, the borders of the images are merged seamlessly. Distortion correction and precise color adjustments are handled automatically through the IPIX Wizard software.

"Olympus has built an incredible base of consumers ready for an IPIX Upgrade Kit. The Internet has exploded with IPIX virtual tours of real estate, vacation destinations and entertainment sites on the Web, and now with Olympus' world leading digital cameras, we are giving consumers the ability to create their own IPIX," said IPIX Chairman and CEO Jim Phillips. "IPIX will bring a new dimension to digital imaging from the family photo album to the real estate market by allowing consumers to step inside the picture and relive their memories."

The IPIX Upgrade kit is available December 1999 for $249.00 and includes the lens, IPIX Wizard 2.2, a tripod rotator, two adapters for Olympus cameras, and a certificate for three IPIX images.

Olympus America distributes a wide range of products for consumer, scientific, health care, commercial and industrial markets. These include film and filmless cameras, Microcassette and digital voice recorders, binoculars, film scanners, personal photo printers, medical and industrial endoscopes, biological and metallurgical microscopes and measuring instruments, clinical analyzers, and other high technology products. Olympus America is responsible for sales in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

IPIX is an easy to use and affordable photography solution that delivers a completely immersive 360 x 360 degree photographic experience providing interactive, spherical images. An IPIX image takes the viewer from earth to sky, floor to ceiling, and horizon to horizon, all from two simple opposing photographs captured by a fisheye lens and seamlessly blended. IPIX has helped numerous organizations create virtual tours and enhanced digital marketing/electronic commerce efforts for many leading companies including Microsoft, Disney, Hilton Hotels, Toyota, Intel, National Geographic, Rent.Net, Coldwell Banker, CNN, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Discovery Communications, the NFL, and the NBA. Interactive Pictures maintains corporate headquarters in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Corporate investors include Advanced Publications, American Express, Discovery Communications, GE Capital, Liberty Media, MediaOne, and Motorola. For more information on Interactive Pictures products, visit www.ipix.com.

Camedia and Microcassette are trademarks of Olympus Optical Co. Ltd. Adobe is a registered trademark and PhotoDeluxe are trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. QuickStitch is a trademark of Enroute, Inc. Microsoft is a registered trademark and Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corp. SmartMedia is a trademark of Toshiba America, Inc. Specifications subject to change without notice. All trademarks used herein are hereby recognized as such.